Method and server for filtering telephone calls

ABSTRACT

The present relates to a method and server for collecting call information associated with an incoming call to a user terminal attached to said telecommunication network. The server comprises determining means for determining a set of answering options to be provided to the user terminal based at least on said call information, and transmitting means for transmitting information indicating the determined set of answering options to the user terminal.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and a server in atelecommunication network. In particular, the invention relates to amethod and server providing configurable answering options.

BACKGROUND

Existing telecommunication user terminals provide the user with a fewfixed limited number of answering options when an incoming call isreceived. The user may e.g. be given the answering options answer, busyor mute. These answering options are supported in the user terminal,although the network can give additional support, by providing time-outfunctions, and redirect to e.g. voicemail.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,471 B1 relates to method and user terminal forhandling incoming calls received by a mobile phone during a meeting. Themobile phone comprises a screen display having several default settingoptions for handling incoming calls. These options include divertingcalls to an assistant, diverting calls to voice mail and e.g. placingthe caller on hold. However, the user has to choose a default settingthat is the same independently of the caller of the incoming call.

Thus, the existing answering options must be configured in advanced andcan therefore not adapt to the characteristics of a specific incomingcall. Hence, incoming calls may not be handled in an efficient way bythe existing answering options.

SUMMARY

The object with the present invention is to provide a method and anarrangement that makes it possible for a user to improve management ofincoming calls to the user.

The object is according to a first aspect achieved by a server in atelecommunication network adapted to collect call information associatedwith an incoming call to a user terminal attached to saidtelecommunication network. The server comprises determining means fordetermining a set of answering options to be provided to the userterminal based at least on said call information, and transmitting meansfor transmitting information indicating the determined set of answeringoptions to the user terminal.

According to a second aspect, the present invention relates to a methodin a telecommunication network for collecting call informationassociated with an incoming call to a user terminal attached to saidtelecommunication network. The method comprises the steps of determininga set of answering options to be provided to the user terminal based atleast on said call information, and transmitting information indicatingthe determined set of answering options to the user terminal.

In accordance with embodiments of the invention the call informationcomprises at least one of an identity of the caller of the incomingcall, subject of the incoming call.

The server comprises preferably further means for collecting userinformation of the user of the user terminal and means for determining aset of answering options to be provided to the user terminal based atleast on said call information and said user information. The userinformation comprises e.g. at least one of terminal capabilityinformation, enterprise policy, project participation.

According to a preferred embodiment, the server is implemented in a SIPproxy. Further, the transmitting means for transmitting informationindicating the determined set of answering options to the user terminalmay be adapted to use a SIP invite message, to use an extra body of SIPinvite message, or to use a reference URI.

Moreover, the server may be associated to a monitoring server adapted tocollect the call information by monitoring a call.

An advantage with the present invention is that it provides an improvedand more flexible control over how to handle incoming communicationrequests.

A further advantage is that the present invention allows the called userto make an answering decision in real-time for the handling of incomingcalls. The decision may be based on calling party information (includingproject or information about previous communication), suitable alternatedestinations; coworkers (and the coworkers current(status/availability), voicemail including option to forward to thesedestinations “with a click”, suitable alternate means of communication;Video, Text, etc.

This results in more professional call handling, with fewer ones beingbluntly rejected. This replaces the need for the user to setaccessibility daily such as “I'm in a meeting from now to 12.00”, “I amnow out of office etc.”, which few users actually use. Instead the userpreferences are only needed to be set seldom based on enterprise policy,users' general presence/preferences and/or group/project participation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a server according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a scenario when SIP is used to implement anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the method according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The basic idea with the present invention is to provide answeringoptions to a user of an incoming call that are adapted to said incomingcall and preferably also to the user and the terminal of said user. Thatimplies that the answering options may depend on the caller, the subjectof the incoming call, user preferences, terminal capabilities etc.

When there is an incoming call to the user, the server according to thepresent invention is arranged to provide the user with answering optionsand also preferably information regarding the incoming call such ascaller, subject, and answering options. As stated above, the answeringoptions depend according to the present invention on characteristics ofthe incoming call, referred to as call information and according to apreferred embodiment also on user preferences and terminal capabilities.

Hence, the present invention relates to a server 100 in atelecommunication network 103 illustrated in FIG. 1. The server 100 isadapted to collect 101 call information 102 associated with an incomingcall to a user terminal 102 attached to said telecommunication network103. The call information is preferably collected from backendinformation systems. The search engine Google may be used to do a lookupon the incoming name or number and present the feeling lucky page alongwith options encoded in that page. For enterprises, it is preferred touse a CRM (customer relationship management) system which holdsinformation about all ongoing projects and customers. The server 100comprises determining means 104 for determining a set of answeringoptions to be provided to the user terminal 102 based at least on saidcall information, and transmitting means 105 for transmittinginformation indicating the determined set of answering options to theuser terminal.

The user may store his preferences in the network (e.g. in an XDMS (XMLDocument Management Server) node if it is an IMS network), whichcombined with the current capabilities of the phone (made possible bycurrent network/location characteristics) produce an overall composedcharacteristic. Preferences include by whom the user would like to becontacted and how the user would like to communicate. The network orcorporate information system also keeps information on suitablealternative destinations/colleagues. Characteristics relating to theuser and the terminal are referred to as user information. The answeringoptions appear preferably on the terminal display such that the user canselect at least one of them. Below, is an example shown where it ispossible to select more than one answering option. Further, the status(e.g. available, busy etc.) of the users that the user of the incomingcall may redirect the incoming call to is indicated.

Examples of the answering options are:

Redirect to:

Department Sales

-   -   Joey (Available)    -   Rachel (In a meeting)

Department Support

-   -   Monica (Busy—only critical issues)    -   Chandler (Available for Instant Message chat)

Another example is when a session is setup between two employees of asingle company wherein the options on the receiving end may be to choosevoice and text chat. When it is between an employee of a first companyand an emplowe of a second company, the policy might be to include videoor weshare as an option.

Call information implies identities associated with the caller such asphone number and other parameters associated with the caller such asproject participation of the caller. User information implies e.g.terminal capability, project participation and enterprise policy.

Examples of Customer information are Name and current projects. Anexample of Project participation information are Name of colleague(s)involved with customer e.g. suitable to handover to.

Examples of terminal capabilities are SMS, Video, Chat, weshare. (Itshould be noted that current network capabilities influence these aswell as Quality of Service may not be high enough to provide e.g. Videoeven though the phone and user support prefer it.)

An example of enterprise policy is that certain customers may allow forvideo calls when abroad and some not due to money restrictions.

Examples of typical answering options are

Answer

Answer, but use alternative media input. (E.g. for an incoming voicecall, use text input on receivers end and transcode to voice in thenetwork.)

Reject

Reject with a message. The message (text or voice) can be a predefinedmessage and configurable

Propose other communication means, e.g. IM instead of voice

Redirect, e.g. to Voicemail, or e.g. a Project colleague

Other enterprise functions e.g. explicitly chosen interactive voiceresponse scripts.

The user may select among the selected answering options by a graphicaluser interface on the terminal, by means of a keypad or by voicemessages depending on the user terminal capabilities.

Thus, the answering options may appear on a user terminal displaygraphically in such a way that the user can select an option by e.g.pushing a button.

Thus, the response by the receiving user can result in a Session startif the answering option “Answer” is selected, Session reject if theanswering option “reject” is selected, Information to the calling userif, followed by session end if the answering option “reject with amessage” is selected, or information to the calling user, to renegotiatethe session parameters (e.g. an incoming video setup request can berenegotiated to result in a text chat session instead) if a responsewith e.g. short text message is selected.

The session information contains the answering options which areinterpreted locally in the device of the user receiving the incomingcall. The answering options may also comprise actions identified asremote commands. Locally interpreted implies that the answering option“Answer” is executed locally, such as display of presence informationabout colleagues presented in the GUI. Remote commands may be theequivalent to transfer to a colleague where the answering user's devicesimply asks the server to do it which will be invoked on an externalresource (e.g. PBX (private branch exchange), centrex or an IMSapplication server. The locally interpreted and the remote commandswhich are transmitted as options in the call setup request can takeparameters (e.g. a text string, a photo, a phone number).

The session information including pertinent answering options andadditional information such as status (e.g. busy, available) of anotheruser is added by a server that is aware of the user's preferences andaware of any session setup requests. Depending on the type of thenetwork, there are different solutions to make the server aware of theuser preferences and the terminal capabilities. E.g. in the IMS (IPmultimedia subsystem), the terminal can send capabilities andpreferences to a combined XDMS and presence server, which implies thatthe server of the present invention can retrieve relevant informationfrom said combined server. It is also possible for the server to send aprobe to probe capabilities, e.g. by means of a SIP (Session InitiationProtocol) OPTIONS request During the course of the session setup or theestablished session the server can send out updates answeringoptions—this enables updating of the answering options in real time.

The present invention is preferably implemented by using SIP as a twoway communications bearer with possibility to synchronize session setuprequests and session information. Session setup requests are SIP INVITEand session information may either be transferred by means of SIP INFOor in the SIP INVITE as a part of the SIP message body.

An implementation according to an embodiment is illustratedschematically in FIG. 2. A first user 204 calls a second user 102 and acall set up is initiated. The call is a SIP call and a SIP invite 203 istransmitted to an originating SIP proxy 202. The originating SIP proxyforwards the SIP invite 201 to a terminating SIP proxy 205. Theterminating SIP proxy 205 comprises the server 100 according to thepresent invention. The server is, as stated above, adapted to collectcall information associated with an incoming call to the second user.The server comprises determining means for determining a set ofanswering options to be provided to the user terminal of the seconduser, based at least on said call information, and transmitting meansfor transmitting information indicating the determined set of answeringoptions to the user terminal of the second user.

Thus, according to an embodiment the session information is sent fromthe server to the user that receives the incoming call over as an extrabody of the invite message (e.g. packaged as an html page) or just as areference URI (e.g. an http URL) where information about the session canbe retrieved.

FIG. 3 illustrates the scenario when a first user 204 is calling asecond user 102 and an ordinary PSTN session 303, 302 is used. Thatimplies that the users establish a connection to a MSC 304. The sessionis monitored by a monitoring server 305. The monitoring server comprisesthe server 100 according to the present invention which is adapted tocollect the call information associated with an incoming call to thesecond user from the MSC by the monitoring server 305, e.g. by means ofa monitoring protocol such as Parlay or CSTA (Computer SupportedTelephony Applications). The server comprises determining means fordetermining a set of answering options to be provided to the userterminal of the second user, based at least on said call information,and transmitting means for transmitting information indicating thedetermined set of answering options to the user terminal of the seconduser.

The invention also relates to a method. The method is shown in theflowchart of FIG. 4 and comprises the steps of:

401. Collect call information associated with an incoming call to a userterminal attached to said telecommunication network.

402. Determine a set of answering options to be provided to the userterminal based at least on said call information.

403. Transmit information indicating the determined set of answeringoptions to the user terminal.

According to an embodiment, the method comprises the further steps ofcollecting user information of the user of the user terminal and thendetermining the set of answering options to be provided to the userterminal based at least on said call information and said userinformation.

Further, the call information may be collected by monitoring the call asexplained above in conjunction with FIG. 3.

The embodiments described above are to be understood as a fewillustrative examples of the present invention. It will be understood bythose skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations andchanges may be made to the embodiments without departing from the scopeof the present invention. In particular, different part solutions in thedifferent embodiments can be combined in other configurations, wheretechnically possible. The scope of the present invention is, however,defined by the appended claims.

1. A server in a telecommunication network for collecting callinformation associated with an incoming call to a user terminal attachedto said telecommunication network, comprising: determining means fordetermining a set of answering options to be provided to the userterminal based at least on said call information; and transmitting meansfor transmitting information indicating the determined set of answeringoptions to the user terminal.
 2. The server according to claim 1,wherein the call information comprises at least one of an identity ofthe caller of the incoming call; subject of the incoming call.
 3. Theserver according to claim 1, wherein the server comprises: means forcollecting user information of the user of the user terminal; and meansfor determining a set of answering options to be provided to the userterminal based at least on said call information and said userinformation.
 4. The server according to claim 3, wherein the userinformation comprise at least one of terminal capability information,enterprise policy, project participation.
 5. The server according toclaim 1, wherein the server is implemented in a SIP proxy.
 6. The serveraccording to claim 5, wherein the transmitting means for transmittinginformation indicating the determined set of answering options to theuser terminal uses a SIP invite message.
 7. The server according toclaim 5, wherein the transmitting means for transmitting informationindicating the determined set of answering options to the user terminaluses an extra body of SIP invite message.
 8. The server according toclaim 5, wherein the transmitting means for transmitting informationindicating the determined set of answering options to the user terminaluses a reference URI.
 9. The server according to claim 1, wherein it isassociated to a monitoring server collects the call information bymonitoring the call.
 10. A method in a telecommunication network forcollecting call information associated with an incoming call to a userterminal attached to said telecommunication network, comprising thesteps of: determining a set of answering options to be provided to theuser terminal based at least on said call information, and transmittinginformation indicating the determined set of answering options to theuser terminal.
 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the callinformation comprises at least one of an identity of the caller of theincoming call, subject of the incoming call.
 12. The method according toclaim 10, comprising: collecting user information of the user of theuser terminal; and determining a set of answering options to be providedto the user terminal based at least on said call information and saiduser information.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the userinformation comprise at least one of terminal capability information,enterprise policy, project participation.
 14. The method according toclaim 10, wherein the method is implemented in a SIP proxy.
 15. Themethod according to claim 14, wherein the step of transmittinginformation indicating the determined set of answering options to theuser terminal is using a SIP invite message.
 16. The method according toclaim 14, wherein the step of transmitting information indicating thedetermined set of answering options to the user terminal is using anextra body of SIP invite message.
 17. The method according to claim 14,wherein the step of transmitting information indicating the determinedset of answering options to the user terminal is using a reference URI.18. The method according to claim 10, wherein the call information iscollected by monitoring the call.